Beto O'Rourke Questions Constitution: 'Principles' May Not Be Relevant Today
Former Texas Rep. and failed Senate candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke faced backlash this week after comments from an interview were published where he questioned the relevance of the United States Constitution.
During an interview with The Washington Post (behind paywall) O’Rourke told The Post’s Jenna Johnson that while he had hope for the United States, he is also suspicious that the United States is incapable of implementing the kind of sweeping changes he had earlier implied would be necessary.
When asked by Johnson which it came down to — “hope” or “suspicion” — O’Rourke paused and said he wanted to be cautious because, “I don’t want a sound bite of it reported.”
Then he said that he thinks the question of the moment is, “Does this still work?”
“Can an empire like ours, with military presence in over 170 countries around the globe, with trading relationships . . . and security agreements in every continent, can it still be managed by the same principles that were set down 230-plus years ago?” he asked.
According to the Post, Beto “doesn’t know the answer yet. But he’s ready to discuss it.”
Republican Rep. Liz Cheyney of Wyoming weighed in on O’Rourke’s comment, saying via a tweet:
“This may make it difficult to take any future oath of office to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution’ … “
This may make it difficult to take any future oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” Beto O’Rourke Wonders If The Constitution Still Works – The Daily Caller https://t.co/4JiMIfYwWz
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) January 16, 2019
Even Huffington Posts’ political reporter Kevin Robillard referred to that portion of the article as “wild.”
“This last bit – where he suggests we might need to ditch the Constitution? – is wild,” Robillard said.
Good story from @wpjenna on Beto.
This last bit – where he suggests we might need to ditch the Constitution? – is wild.https://t.co/E31VeDvz8s pic.twitter.com/sBxF734Fxg
— Kevin Robillard (@Robillard) January 15, 2019
It wasn’t just O’Rourke’s shaky commitment to the Constitution that was drawing attention.
CNN’s Rebecca Buck even had some less than flattering words for O’Rourke’s foreign policy ideas following the interview’s publication.
According to Buck, Beto “might have to figure out what he thinks about Syria before the first debate.”
Beto might have to figure out what he thinks about Syria before the first debate pic.twitter.com/1UioBUAVfd
— Rebecca Buck (@RebeccaBuck) January 15, 2019
Several other comments about O’Rourke’s positions on hot-button issues refer to the possibility that the former Texas representative might still throw his hat in the ring for a 2020 presidential bid.
While O’Rourke has not officially announced, rumors of his possible run began even before his loss to incumbent Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz was final in November.
“Running for Senate, I was 100 percent focused on our campaign, winning that race and then serving the next six years in the United States Senate,” O’Rourke said at a town hall in November according to The Daily Caller.
“Now that that is no longer possible, you know, we’re thinking through a number of things.”
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